Huron County ( ) is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community.

The population reported in the 2021 Census for this predominantly agricultural area with many villages and small towns was 61,366 in a land area of 3,398 square kilometres. Of the total population, 7,881 reside in Goderich.

History

The portion of the Huron Tract ceded to the Canada Company was established as the "County of Huron" in 1835, except certain townships that were transferred to other counties:

Adelaide Township went to Middlesex County The townships of Moore and Sarnia, Plympton, Enniskillen, Warwick, Brooke and Bosanquet went to Kent County

Historic townships In 1835, the county was declared to consist of the following townships:1835 Act, s. 1

Biddulph Blanshard Colborne Downie Ellice South Easthope North Easthope Fullarton Goderich Hay Hibbert Hullett Logan McKillop McGillivray Stephen Stanley Tuckersmith Usborne Williams

They have since devolved to the following counties (as outlined in red):

Territorial evolution Legislation was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1838 to authorize the separation of the county from the London District and constitute it as the Huron District. The county was extended northward in 1840, upon the survey of a new range of townships on its northern boundary, beginning with Ashfield Township, and later including Wawanosh, Morris, Grey and Elma. The District itself came into being in October 1841.

Huron County was continued for electoral purposes in 1845, and the District was extended northwards as far as the Bruce Peninsula in 1846.

The District (which existed for judicial and municipal purposes) was abolished at the beginning of 1850. Legislation passed later in the same session of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada provided for the county to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the Bruce Peninsula withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County. The townships were distributed as follows:

+ Distribution of the townships of the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce (1850)1849 Act, ss. 33, 35, 36From Perth County Bruce County Huron CountyHuron CountyBlanchard Hibbert Fullarton Logan Downie (including the Gore of Downie) Ellice Easthope North Easthope South (including the Town of Stratford) Elma WallaceHuron Kinloss Curloss Carrick Kincardine Greenock Brant Bruce Saugeen Elderslie Arranthe remaining townships of Huron CountyWaterloo CountyMornington

The Bruce Peninsula was later returned to Bruce in 1851. The County of Perth was given its own Provisional Municipal Council at that time,S.Prov.C. 1849, c. 96, s. 3 and was separated from the United Counties in 1853.

Several townships were transferred to Middlesex County:

Williams, in 18451845 Act, Sch. B Biddulph and McGillivray, in 1862.

Legislation was passed in 1866 to provide for the dissolution of the United Counties on January 1, 1867, with Huron and Bruce County becoming separate counties for all purposes., implementing

Government The Huron County Council consists of fifteen members from the nine area municipalities, ensuring that each of which is represented on this council. Each year, a Warden is elected from the group; this individual chairs meetings and represents the County at various functions. Elected to Ashfeild-Colborne-Wawanosh Council in 2014 and acclaimed as Mayor in 2018, the current Warden is Glen McNeil.

Most of the population of the county resides in the Huron—Bruce, formerly Huron and Huron—Middlesex, federal electoral district. The majority also reside in the Huron—Bruce (provincial electoral district), formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex.

The county's Official Plan (2015) addresses the following issues: "agriculture, community services, the economy, natural environment, extractive resources, and settlement patterns." According to this document, agriculture is a particularly significant part of the economy since "Huron leads all counties and regions in Ontario in total value of production; and it also exceeds the production totals of several provinces".

Municipalities Huron County comprises nine lower-tier municipalities (in order of population):

+ Municipalities of Huron County Municipality Population (2021) Population Centres Municipality of South Huron 10,063 Exeter Municipality of Huron East 9,512 Seaforth, Brussels Town of Goderich 7,881 Goderich Municipality of Central Huron 7,779 Clinton Municipality of Bluewater 7,540 Bayfield, Hensall Township of Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh 5,884 Township of North Huron 5,052 Wingham, Blyth Municipality of Howick 4,045 Municipality of Morris-Turnberry 3,590

The boundaries of the county's municipalities have been in effect since 2001, after the provincial government imposed mergers throughout the province.

Demographics As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Huron County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

Communities

Amberley (border with Bruce County) Auburn Bayfield Belgrave Belmore (border with Bruce County) Benmiller Bluevale Blyth Brucefield Brussels Carlow Centralia (border with Middlesex County) Clinton Corbett (border with Middlesex County) Crediton Dashwood Drysdale Dungannon Egmondville Ethel Exeter Fordwich Goderich Gorrie Harpurhey Hensall Holmesville Huron Park Kinburn Kingsbridge Kintail Kippen Kirkton (border with Perth County) Lakelet Leadbury Londesborough Molesworth (border with Perth County) Mount Carmel (border with Middlesex County) Nile Port Albert St. Augustine St. Columban (border with Perth County) St. Joseph Saltford Seaforth Shipka Summerhill Sunshine Vanastra Varna Walton Whitechurch (border with Bruce County) Wingham Winthrop Whalen Corners (border with Perth and Middlesex Counties) Woodham (border with Perth County) Wroxeter Zurich

Former communities/ghost towns

Donnybrook Francistown Mafeking McGaw Rodgerville Sodom Spidertown (border with Middlesex County)

In popular culture Huron County is the setting for many stories written by Alice Munro. See also

List of municipalities in Ontario List of Ontario Census Divisions List of townships in Ontario List of counties in Ontario List of secondary schools in Ontario#Huron County

References

Further reading

External links